How to cure the 'kicks' problem. The answer!

[Achamian]

Thanks for all the various comments and suggestions, guys. There's definitely some interesting things there for me to consider further, particularly regarding different ball/cloth combinations etc.

I am convinced that my cure for 'kicks' does work. But, until a few more people try it, there's no way of knowing if it will work consistently under 'professional' conditions.

Anyway, now I have found at least a 'possible' cure, my next project is to try to find the root-cause of 'kicks'.

However, this is not going to be easy. Because, at the moment, neither the ball makers (Aramith) or the cloth makers (Strachan) will give me any kind of specific details about the manufacturing processes involved in their products.

I can certainly understand the 'trade secrets' attitude they are giving me. But, come on, if they are not going to investigate the root-cause of the 'kicks' problem themselves, they could at least give me enough information to let me have a crack at it.

Oh well, such is life.

[vmax4steve]

I can certainly understand the 'trade secrets' attitude they are giving me. But, come on, if they are not going to investigate the root-cause of the 'kicks' problem themselves, they could at least give me enough information to let me have a crack at it.

The rules of snooker used to state that balls used must be super crystalate and these were the only balls recognised by the WPBSA for use in all tournaments.
When Aramith bought out the super crystalate company they effectively created a monopoly for themselves for the supply of snooker balls in the UK and for pro tournaments worldwide. What they did though was to stop production of super crystalate and introduced their own phenolic resin, thus demanding a change in the rules of snooker as no new sets of super crystalate could be bought.

I'm pretty certain that the Aramith company know for a fact that their phenolic resin is inferior to super crystalate but had a business plan to expand into snooker and rather than have a factory making balls from different substances did something to make the snooker world accept their kick happy crappy balls.
What that something was I don't know but the rules of the game now state that balls used must be recognised by the ruling body but no information can be gotten as to what material composites are indeed recognised and the WPBSA only use Aramith TC's so the rest of us have to follow it seems to the detriment of our game.

[rightoncue89]

How to cure the 'kicks' problem. The answer!

wow that is actually quite interesting, had anymore thoughts on the kick problem?
and has anybody tried this solution and if so what do you think?

[luke-h]

Thanks for all the various comments and suggestions, guys. There's definitely some interesting things there for me to consider further, particularly regarding different ball/cloth combinations etc.

I am convinced that my cure for 'kicks' does work. But, until a few more people try it, there's no way of knowing if it will work consistently under 'professional' conditions.

Anyway, now I have found at least a 'possible' cure, my next project is to try to find the root-cause of 'kicks'.

However, this is not going to be easy. Because, at the moment, neither the ball makers (Aramith) or the cloth makers (Strachan) will give me any kind of specific details about the manufacturing processes involved in their products.

I can certainly understand the 'trade secrets' attitude they are giving me. But, come on, if they are not going to investigate the root-cause of the 'kicks' problem themselves, they could at least give me enough information to let me have a crack at it.

Oh well, such is life.

we used to have one table that was heated in our old club and using the tournament balls on there used to be a kick fest, so what im trying to say is maybe heat plays a factor too.

[Terry Davidson]

Shaun Murphy is working on this too. There is an article in the latest SnookerScene where he gives his reasons for kicks and if I remember rightly he did mention that the heaters are definitely a contributing factor along with the oil in the cloth Strachan uses during the cutting process.

It's worth a read

Terry

[DeanH]

Terry, some time ago I recall you discussing a test you were going to do, that you rubbed a set of balls in your hands and another set unhandled, to see if the handled one gave less kicks, did you get any results?
cheers

[Terry Davidson]

DeanH:

I never did get to try that one out as I sold the second set to a friend.

However, I can tell you with this Hainsworth cloth I get very few kicks and those are usually off the black or pink spots where there's a little depression now. When I had the heaters and Strachan #10 on my tables I was always getting kicks anywhere on the table.

I believe Shaun Murphy has it nailed. It's due to the oil Strachan uses to lubricate the cutters when they trim the nap coupled with the heaters, however there are other reasons too like chalk on one or both of the balls and also I believe the type of hit on the cueball can help generate some kicks.

Terry

[DeanH]

thanks for the reply

[T.C.]

I don't think table heaters have any bearing on it. I play on numerous tables around my area and get kicks on all tables around our league. 99% of our clubs are using Aramith TC balls with Hainsworth Smart Cloths and NO table heaters.

[inevermissblue]

Hi All! Every single table in the world that has had extensive use will provide kicks to varying degrees. However...A recently 'cleaned' (de-greased) bed cloth with polished match balls will reduce this drastically! The End.

[davipp]

An interesting article and logical theory Achamian.
I read an article about English billiards and how it was noticed the very few kicks occurring in long matches. Because the cue balls go in-off and the red is potted so often in a game that when handled with un-gloved hands, the oil from the skin is being transferred to the balls. This was deemed to be the reason why there were no kicks. There was talk that maybe referees should not wear gloves to eliminate the kicks. People believe the gloves added to the problem when the referee rubbed the balls clean.

[Vic Flange]

I had an interesting occurrence at the club yesterday regarding kicks.
We were playing on a table that had a fairly new cloth and we experienced not a single kick. After an hour or so we noticed that the table was running off straight so we asked to switch tables.
We ended up on a table with a heavily worn cloth and the amount of kicks we experienced (with the same set of balls) was unbelievable.
It was an amazing difference to say that we using the same set of balls.

It convinced me that the number of kicks in the professional game is due to the superfine, thin cloths that they use.

[itsnoteasy]

Very interesting, I can understand that the lubricant fills the tiny pits so makes the balls rounder(for want of a better expression) therefore decreasing friction , but you then go on to say you don't miscue because the chalk on the tip penetrates into the pits so it gives grip, would microscopic parts of chalk not stay lodged on the ball, and then possibly build up,negating the roundness achieved by the lubricant ? Or could this be the reason it has a limited lifespan.

[T.C.]

Where can we buy this lubricant in the UK???

[Billy]

Well I'll take this as a 'cure' for kicks with a pinch of salt if you don't mind, in spite of your findings. Great work, by the way.

I do wish, however, that players would just accept that whatever it is that's causing the kicks, having the cueball cleaned afterwards makes not a blind bit of difference to the next shot. I know there's a lot at stake in these matches and that it just offers piece of mind for the player, but cueball cleaning is a real annoyance for me as a viewer.